Eison, Monkan, and the cult of founders in medieval Japan
On the construction of narrative and material selves in East Asian Buddhism
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22347490 |
|---|---|
| Authors | David Quinter (0000-0003-1021-2560, University of Alberta, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 7 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 390-416 |
| Publication date | 2021-10-02 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Studies in Chinese Religions (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2372-9988 • E-ISSN: 2372-9996 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/23729988.2021.2015147 |
| OpenAlex | W4220733260 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 23 |
This article addresses the viability of constructions of a narrative self in light of the Buddhist doctrine of no-self by examining Eison (or Eizon; 1201–90), founder of the Shingon Ritsu movement; his grand-disciple Monkan (1278–1357); and their involvement in the cult of founders in medieval Japan. The article begins by briefly establishing Eison and Monkan’s significance, then looks at Steven Collins’s distinction between systematic and narrative thought in Pali Buddhism. I suggest that this distinction helps clarify the relationship between the self of narrativity and of conventional truth versus the no-self of ultimate truth in Buddhist traditions across times and regions. Then, using Eison, Monkan, and the medieval cult of founders as a case study, I argue that even among scholar-monks actively engaged in such systematic exposition as that related to notions of no-self, the exposition is embedded within a broader devotional framework in which tensions between no-self and a narrative self largely dissolve. I conclude by suggesting that notions of no-self posed little impediment to Eison and fellow monastics’ promotion of a cult of founders that glorifies particular narratively and materially constructed ‘selves.’
Aesthetics · Ancient history · Art · Buddhism · Cult · Doctrine · Epistemology · Literature · Narrative · Narrativity · Self · Sociology · Theology · Chinese history and philosophy · Emotions and Moral Behavior · History · Japanese History and Culture · Philosophy
How Buddhism Acquired a Soul on the Way to China
Registers of Reception
Chan Insights and Oversights
Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in East Asia
Self and Other
Hokkeji and the Reemergence of Female Monastic Orders in Premodern Japan
Prince and the Monk, The
From Sovereign to Symbol
The Self-Effacing Buddhist
Recognizing the Founder, Seeing Amida Buddha
Religion and the Family in East Asia
Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism
A Buddhist Debate About the Self; and Remarks on Buddhism in the Work of Derek Parfit and Galen Strawson
Person as Narration
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |